(1). Field of the Invention
The instant invention relates to an instrumented cable using optical fiber for many types of measurements, and more particularly to measure the temperature profile of a body of water as a function of depth using an instrumented fiber optic tow cable and to measure a temperature profile for oil wells.
(2). Description of the Prior Art
There are several approaches for measuring temperature with fiber-optic-based sensors that are already available in the prior art. However, one of the main obstacles of using this technique is to design a system that is sufficiently rugged to survive deployment and retrieval through handling systems at high tensions over a limited diameter sheave or a winch. Nonetheless, the use of optical fibers to measure various physical parameters such as light transmission in different media is on the increase due to the compact size and the ease of operation of optical fiber detectors in various environments. As an example, use of optical fibers to measure the temperature profile of a body of water as a function of depth is quite important as the water temperature affects the propagation of acoustic waves in the body of water and thus affects sonar performance. The temperature of the water is also important to the fishing industry, because some species of fish stay within water having very precise temperature bounds. Still another area of interest is to measure temperature profile in an oil well. It is thus desirable to integrate an optical fiber tow cable as a detector for making measurements of various parameters including temperature profile of a body of water and/or and oil well using a state-of-the art tow cable with optical fibers.